The impact of parks on property values: empirical evidence from the past two decades in the United States

The notion that parks have a positive impact on proximate property values was recognized in the debates surrounding the pioneering of large urban parks in England in the first half of the nineteenth century, and subsequently in the spread of this movement to the US in the latter half of that century. The empirical basis for these early assertions was rudimentary and naïve. This paper reviews contemporary research using the more advanced analytical procedures now available to social scientists that has examined this issue. The findings confirm the initial rationale and suggest that a positive impact of 20% on property values abutting or fronting a passive park is a reasonable starting point guideline for estimating such a park's impact.